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County to feds: Help with storm water costs

Mesa County commissioners are asking the federal government to help local governments pay the tab for storm water damage mitigation and monitoring.

Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution this morning asking the federal government to take financial responsibility for storm water that flows from federal lands onto other land, potentially causing damage.

Federal regulations in many cases require local government entities to absorb costs associated with construction, maintenance, treatment and cleanup geared toward storm water cleanliness and damage mitigation. The resolution seeks federal support with those efforts because “a significant portion” of storm water problems in Mesa County are associated with unrestricted storm water flowing from federal lands onto other property.

“The purpose is to call the federal government to the ropes,” Julie Constan with the county’s Public Works Department told commissioners. “We’d like to have more of their active participation with the storm water management issues we do deal with, especially with storm water that comes off of federal lands.”